Chail Himachal Pradesh

Chail is a quiet hill station in Himachal Pradesh. The reason for choosing Chail for our summer break was that it is conveniently located near many famous tourist spots like Kasauli, Shimla, Solan etc. so most people flock to these known spots over quieter places like Chail.

Chail is around 370 km from Gurgaon, around 9 hours of drive with breaks. We did not want to overexert KU so we decided to stop whenever it was enough driving for her. With only this much planning and no prior reservations, we started our road trip on a cloudy May afternoon. We were traveling on a weekday so we took our chance with reservations. We left Gurgaon vowing NOT to stop at Murthal for paranthas.­­

 (Read here what happened when we halted unnecessarily at Murthal during our Jamta trip! We lost our way into the sugarcane fields at night)

It was drizzling by the time we reached Panchkula after around 5-6 hours of driving and Panchkula seemed to be a very comfy place to take a break before driving further. As we were sipping tea in the famous Aasma Revolving restaurant, we decided to call it a day and checked into Ana Clarks Inn itself. Chail in one stretch is easily doable from Gurgaon but we decided to spend the evening in Panchkula as it looked so colorful from the restaurant top.The Choki Dhani Resort was right across the road and it was a fun experience to spend some time there.

We left for Chail after breakfast the next day; it is around 100 km from Panchkula. As we drove towards Chail, the wind turned cooler and mountains grew bigger. The road was rugged most of the time. By the time we crossed the turn for Kasauli at Dharampur , traffic began to fade. There were hardly any tourist cabs or even local vehicles. We had begun to worry that Chail would be a crowded place – now we were relieved. We reached Chail after 4 hours of relaxed driving.

Chail is a little hamlet in the laps of nature surrounded by pines and deodars. We noticed many newly constructed hotels in Chail but surprisingly we did not see any tourists (I was really happy about it though). It could be because we were there on a weekday.

As we were traveling without reservations, we decided to check out some of the famous hotels there. Chail Palace topped this list so we decided to go there for lunch and see if we could get a room. We had heard a lot about Chail Palace- the ambience was royal, the food was great too but the hotel rooms were a downer for us. The rooms were damp and stunk. Disappointed with the rooms, we decided to just enjoy our lunch there and left after that.

Our hunt for hotel rooms ended as soon as we halted at the Ekant Retreat Resort. The location was lovely, the rooms were comfortable and the food was yummy!  It was very refreshing to sip our evening tea in the balcony, overlooking the valley. Cool breeze washed away all the tiredness. Our time here was totally chilled out. It was very rejuvenating to stroll around the village and visit nearby places.

Places I visited:

Kufri: Kufri is just 30ish Km from Chail and it took us around 1.5 hours to reach there. It is a cute little hill station perfect for 1 day outing specially with kids. It was a lot of fun to walk around the Kufri Zoo. We visited a few more places like Chini Bunglow , Tourist park etc. Kids would definitely enjoy the yak and horse rides easily available in that area.

Shimla: We visited Shimla just for old times’ sake. Chail to Shimla is almost 2 hours’ drive. We were told that we were lucky to be there on a weekday as it gets really crowded on weekends. It was nostalgic to walk down the famous mall road. We just had some coffee and came back.

Janedghat Market: It is not a tourist spot as such but a small village market that offers delicious local food. There are a couple of dhabas that offer fresh food. Ideal place for rajma-chawal lovers!

Kali Ka Tibba: To me ‘Kali ka Tibba’ is the USP of Chail. It is a temple situated at the hill top but to me this place has something in store for every kind of traveler- A beautiful temple for the religious ones, a thrilling place for the adventurous ones because of the 5km of awesome trek to this temple, a first gear drive on the bumpy road for the daredevils (specially in rainy season), a photographer’s paradise for the most amazing sunset and breath taking views and above all it offers tranquility, that sense of oneness with nature for all us solitude lovers for which we go to these offbeat places. We witnessed one of the best uninterrupted sunsets at this place.

My 2 Cents:

1.      Bag packers can stay in Junedghat as well. There were many cheap bagpackerish hotels there and it would cost peanuts.

2.      It is important to reach Kali ka Tibba before sunset to enjoy this place to the fullest.

3.      Take out some time to visit Chail palace, the cricket ground etc.

4.      A toy train ride from Shimla is highly recommended. It is an experience in itself.